| Author | Message | ||
     spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 2447 Registered: 05-2005 |
I was looking at the Joy Division reissue CD of Unknown Pleasures. What abeauty it is, even in cd format. The packaging is beautiful, slick and perfect. Only downside is the plastic see through wrap that staes its a collectors piece. That should have been 'designed' too rather than some second rate retailesque slip wrap. But it gotme thinking about what sleeve art excites me all these year later. I know we've discussed itbefore, how we miss vinyl and in partic the sleevs. Off the top of your head what's your top 10 sleeve design faves? 1. Josef K - The only fun in town. 2. Associates - Sulk. 3. The Stranglers - Rattus Norvegicus. 4. Television - marquee Moon. 5. Robert Forster - Danger on the past 6. The Lilac Time - The Lilac Tme 7. Orange Juice - You can't hode your love forever 8. Wire - 154 9. Scott Walker - Scott 4 10. The Slits - Cut | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 2123 Registered: 05-2005 |
Good topic mate, but are you narrowing it down to artists you like, looks like you are  I never liked the music or artwork for The only fun in town, I was gutted when that album came out. Similarly when OJs debut came out, although its a very good album, just not the best album ever made which is what I was hoping for. The Lilac Time album cover is perfect for the music it conceals, as is Cut. My favourites are Big Youth - Everyday Skank The Clash - The Clash - a statement of intent REM - Murmer - see Lilac Time The Fall - Dragnet The Replacements - Let It Be - You wanted to be in this band The Go-Betweens - LBATBDE - see above Wilco - YFT Iggy - Lust for Life - say no more Talking Heads - Fear of Music Joy Division - Atmosphere - chilly, spine tingling The Ramones - The Ramones - see The Clash | ||
| XY765 Member Username: Judge Post Number: 467 Registered: 01-2006 |
Off the top of my head... Go-Betweens - 78-90 The Smiths - Queen Is Dead Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man Stones - Sticky Fingers (i have this on vinyl with the zip!) Beatles - Abbey Road Spititualized - Pure Phase Wilco - YHF as well Neil Young - Zuma Elvis Costello - Spike Bob Marley - Catch A Fire | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 2449 Registered: 05-2005 |
Kev yeah, hard to do though is it not! I mean I'm not exactly gonna put 2112 by Rush down am I!!! A beacuse I don't like em and I don't own it. LOL No, seriously it was a top of the head thing. I could go on, I mean El records have put oout some of the most amazing sleeves. I alos love punk and new wave sleeves, I mean look at Factory. This was just a top of the head question! Oh, on the subject of OFIT. It got slated in the press, butthat's why i like it. I was also very young when I bought it, and it means more to you when you hear something of that age, you are indifferent to the review around you and you just get into it. I tell you, I played that vinyl to death, it was raw and honest, God the treble gnawed your head off and it was played with feeling, yeah in places the production sucks, but ill always love that aspect, as Ive said before, "viva le flaw!" | ||
| joe Member Username: Dogmansuede Post Number: 458 Registered: 07-2006 |
this is something i could get lost in for a long time. straight off the top of my beer-soaked head.... associates - sulk (onya spance) manics - the holy bible tom waits - rain dogs spiritualized - ladies and gentlemen mbv - loveless marianne faithful - broken english madonna - like a virgin (back "covers" count right?) soft cell - non stop erotic cabaret triffids - born sandy abc - the lexicon of love prince - parade kate bush - hounds of love abba - the visitors b&s - the boy with the arab strap berlin - pleasure victim big star - third the carpenters - horizon bowie - low diana ross - diana elastica - s/t (and all singles' sleeves it spawned) felt - forever breathes the lonely word fleetwood mac - tusk japan - tin drum jamc - psychocandy marc almond - the stars we are moz - bona drag nick cave - from her to eternity omd - architecture and morality peter gabriel - 3/melt roxy music - avalon saint etienne - so tough the smiths - s/t, hatful and meat is murder! sonics - daydream nation talking heads - remain in light teenage fanclub - bandwagonesque yep...most of them records i love and i definitely ended up scrolling through my itunes there to refresh my memory. will gladly stick by each and every one of them though! | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 1187 Registered: 01-2005 |
joe, I love the Gerhardt Richter painting of the candle on the cover of Daydream Nation. Allman Brothers Band - Live At The Fillmore East (Although the photo on the cover was taken outside of Capricorn HQ in Macon, GA, not the Fillmore in NYC) Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass - Whipped Cream and Other Delights The Bangles - All Over The Place The Beatles - Sgt Pepper The Blue Nile - Hats The Blues Magoos - Psychedellic Lollipop The Byrds - Mr. Tambourine Man The Clash - London Calling Flying Burrito Brothers - The Gilded Palace of Sin Gang of Four - Entertainment The Soft Boys - Underwater Moonlight Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend Velvet Underground - Velvet Underground | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 1255 Registered: 10-2004 |
i'm generally so excited by good sleeve art that i don't even know where to begin. this is only the tip of the iceberg: microdisney - everybody's fantastic, clock comes down the stairs bunnymen - crocodiles, heaven, porcupine, ocean rain joy division - unknown pleasures, closer REM - chronic town, murmur love - love blue oyster cult - boc opal - northern line durutti column - LC, another setting bauhaus - mask, burning from the inside captain beefheart - clear spot sparks - kimono my house eric dolphy - out to lunch associates - affectionate punch japan - gentlemen take polaroids, art of parties 12" felt - strange idols pattern, poem of the river cocteau twins - treasure, pink opaque go betweens - before hollywood, liberty belle wire - 154, chairs missing, pink flag section 25 - from the hip, always now, key of dreams pale fountains - long shot for your love dead can dance - spleen & ideal, serpent's egg eno - another green world, no pussyfooting astrud gilberto - astrud gilberto album, beach samba martha & the muffins - this is the ice age, metro music, danceparc scott walker - 3 the church - seance crepuscule comps - rough w/ the smooth, fruit of the original sin the names - swimming black sabbath - sabbath bloody sabbath antonio carlos jobim - wave the fall - perverted by language the cure - 3 imaginary boys, 17 seconds teardrop explodes - wilder (US version) sad lovers & giants - feeding the flame buzzcocks - different kind of tension ac/dc - dirty deeds done dirt cheap iron maiden - number of the beast | ||
| Ewan Talisker McEwan Member Username: Ewan_mcewan Post Number: 204 Registered: 02-2008 |
Roxy Music - Country Life Beatles - White Album Prince - Black Album Tom Waits - Bone Machine Pixies - Surfer Rosa Bob Dylan - John Wesley Harding Cheap Thrills - Big Bro. & the Holding Co. Yo La Tengo - I'm not Afraid of you and me beat your ass Bon Iver - For Emma Forever Ago Grinderman (that monkey ain't goin to heaven) Soul Coughing - El Oso The Old 97s - Too Far to Care X - Wild Gift Gram Parsons - GP Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks Rolling Stones - Exile on Main St. Dickie and Linda Thompson - Po Down like Silver Talking Heads - Songs About Bldgs. and Food Beatles - Yesterday & Today, butcher cover only Joni Mitchell - Blue Frank Sinatra - In the Wee Small Hours Miles Davis - Bitches Brew Elvis Costello - Armed Forces Love - Forever Changes Loosinder Williams - Car Wheels on Gravel Rd. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 1653 Registered: 03-2005 |
The sad thing is that with CDs everything is so small that cover art doesn't have the same impact. I see a lot that I agree with: "Broken English," the two Joy Division albums, "Before Hollywood" and OMD's "Architecture & Morality." I pick the exact same Cocteau albums as Jeff. I add: Rolling Stones--December's Children Triffids--Born Sandy Devotional Go Bees--Spring Hill Fair, Tallulah Gene Clark--White Light John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers--A Hard Road X-Ray Spex--Germfree Adolescents Scott Walker--Scott. We all seem to love one of Scott's covers. I go for the B&W shot. Small Faces--Odgen's Nut Gone Flake | ||
| joe Member Username: Dogmansuede Post Number: 459 Registered: 07-2006 |
michael - you picked a couple there i stew on for some time before eventually deciding to cull the list back (all over the place, hats). love more songs about buildings & food too.... | ||
| joe Member Username: Dogmansuede Post Number: 460 Registered: 07-2006 |
BSD is great randy. i actually have it as my desktop here at work. is that x-ray spex lp the one with the test tubes? also pretty great. girls aloud did their own version a few years ago, but somehow some of the design's original spunk got lost in translation... =D | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 1656 Registered: 03-2005 |
Yes, Joe, it's the one with the test tubes. Like Spence says, the punk and early new wave covers were so often great. I think it was a whole new generation of art school graduates doing everything. | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 381 Registered: 05-2005 |
Born Sandy Devotional - Triffids: THE most Austrlian cover. Heaven up Here - Bunnymen: Checking out the surf on a winters day! Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Cub Band - Beatles Wear Your Love like Heaven - Donovan Persia ep - The Church: OOOO I want to folow where she's going! Submarine Bells - The Chulls(!In my best Kiwi accent!) Magical Mystery Tour - Beatles Rubber Soul - Beatles 5th Dimension - Byrds: "Take a drink from this special cup" Going Blank Again - Ride Treasure - Cocteau Twins The Spangle Maker ep - Cocteau Twins Tallulah - GB's Before Hollywood- GB's The Cold and the Crackle- Not Drowning Waving Organisation - OMD Regatta de Blanc- Police: rip off of With the Beatles but with more blue sepia smoulder! Carnival of Light- Ride: 5D for the 90's Today Forever ep - Ride Meat is Murder - Smiths Unearthed- Steve Kilbey Sleepless- Ups and Downs I've actually got a wall in my music room where I rotate album sleeves but I haven't bought records for so long, the same stuff keeps getting rejigged. One of my favourite combinations is 5D, Blurred Crusade and Sleepless. All that black and orange! | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1159 Registered: 08-2006 |
A few I didn't see listed above: B. Springsteen - "Born to Run." Simply iconic. Pet Shop Boys - "Very." Is there such as thing as "fey industrial"? L. Reed - "The Blue Mask." The cover art from his most popular album is repurposed and repositioned as the cover art of one of his best. The Afghan Whigs - "Gentlemen." A classic scene-setter. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 1190 Registered: 01-2005 |
And a few more from me to boot! Bob's Yur Uncle - The Freewheelin' Uncle Bob Julian Cope - Fried Kate Bush - Never Forever Françoise Hardy - Ma Jeunesse Fout L'Camp Echo and the Bunneymen - Crocodiles Sufjan Stevens - Greetings From Michigan: The Great Lake State (a little plug for my state) | ||
| joe Member Username: Dogmansuede Post Number: 461 Registered: 07-2006 |
hats off geoff - you picked a whole lot of my other faves there. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 1258 Registered: 10-2004 |
Couldn't resist a few more myself: Nara Leao - O Canto Livre de Nara The Cramps - Big Beat from Badsville Bow Wow Wow - See Jungle!..... Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones The Cure - Jumping Someone Else's Train 7" Nick Lowe - Jesus of Cool Raincoats - Raincoats and I agree about the OMD covers - everything from the debut through Junk Culture is brilliant! | ||
| Ewan Talisker McEwan Member Username: Ewan_mcewan Post Number: 211 Registered: 02-2008 |
Agreed about the Nick Lowe cover...more occur to me: it seems that just about every Pavement album had a coolasshit cover. All of the Springsteen covers, come to think of it, have been pretty iconic, with the possible exception of the ones for my two least favorite records of his: Lucky Town and Human Touch, which seemed like retreads, dull and inspired as they were. And, when I was a wee la', the Led Zeppelin IV cover seemed pretty frakkin cool. Still seems pretty cheeky that they put it out with absolutely no writing or credits on the cover. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 2455 Registered: 05-2005 |
Had some time to think about it more... Jeff and Joe highlight more of my faves. LK, Songs about Buildings is iconic graphic art. The Beach Boys - Surfs Up. Its a sad cover, but the music withink lifts me, cue the organ Reverand!! Neil Young - Ragged Glory. I always wanted to be in that romm with the man and the horse. The Smiths - The world won't listen. I don't know how much the smiths or moz had to do with this great comp, but I love the anticipation and browny grainy enlargement of the dude wit the leather jacket, infact I sorta looked just like the guy at the time it was released, it really was quite uncanny. And the music, well... XTC - English Settlement. I loved the idea of the horse from Wiltshire their hometown, the green, typography and the embossed, rustic outer and inner sleeves really suited the style of music they were writing during this period. Some of the interesting things you'll see on along distance flight. - A les disques du crepuscule compiliation. I know Jef likes the label's work too. This cover was like the label to me, mysterious. There was no track listing on it, because it was so minimalist, i nevere knew exactly what was on the album, although I had a hunch, until the advent of the internet, I was able to research its background. ELO - Out of the blue. I never owned this, my mate's Mum did, as a kid, the cover was beautiful airbrushtastic, it was just great. Associates. The affectionate punch (80). Before I had ever even heard a tune fron the group, this sleeve had been noticed by my young eyes in my mate's brother's bedroom. It was like, "what??" I had to get into them. Grace Jones - Living my life. That woman, has to be one of the most beautiful people on this earth. The way the sleev accentuated her geometric frame was brilliant. It just said, Grace jones, here she is, you knew you wouldn't resist it. Momus - The Poison Boyfriend. I remember being at Nick Currie's flat, listening to rough mixes of this album. I saw some contact sheets of this shoot that adorned the sleeve. IWhen I saw the sleeve in the record shp, I thoughtm wow, he's done it, he looks like leonard Cohen, cool, detached, handsome and he's gonna be a star. I drooled over this sleeve, I still drool. Felt - me and a monkey on the moon. This was felt's last album, came out on El Recocrds. El had such great image and superb covers. Like all the great labels this cover, was just plain weird, simply El! tuxedo Moon - Holy Wars. I just didn't get it, I liked that, it was nearly a Pink Floyd cover, but the typestyle was too cool. The Gobetweens - Liberty belle. The fact that it was in black and white, is genius, as is the music on this, possibly my fave GB's album. Tha angle of the shot is strange, its got this weird perspective, its also got the band in a realxed situation. now, they'd got this 'serious' tag at the time and this showed a lighter side, the sleevs prior to this were kinda straight/serious poses, / illustrations. I loved Grant's big black motorbike boots, the leathers, the black tshirt and mascara, his hair was like Howard Devoto, he looked fuc*in cool, as did Robert F, who I thought looked 20 ft tall on this sleeve. Robert Vickers, the smart mod guy laughing and Lindy, astride the leather sofa. Real genius, the sleev would have looked shit in colour. Cliff Richard once said he never believed any of the films Wlvis did in black and white as life is in colour, what a twat, and he'd of been wrong aboout this magnificent sleeve. Night all, sorry for going on... | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 382 Registered: 05-2005 |
Fried was a total classic(Namdam am I I am a madman!) as was the "who farted?" cover of Liberty Belle.Looks like it was Grant! | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 1260 Registered: 10-2004 |
I adore the Liberty Belle cover for the same reasons that Spence wrote about. They look super stylish and cool, yet so genuinely happy in that moment. The beauty is that it's so not staged. Someone in the room clearly made a joke (or maybe farted?), and the camera caught them at that precise second. And with them looking so dead serious on the Spring Hill Fair cover (which I also quite like), it's refreshing to see them in much a lighter mood. It really suits the feel of the album perfectly, too. I've always been really fond of the Before Hollywood cover, too. I don't know, something about it, the colors, something... lends it this subtle kind of atmosphere, almost autumnal. To most people it probably looks pedestrian, but to me it's quite striking. I love the layout on the back of the LP sleeve too, with the lyrics and those super cool individual photos. That's an LP I can always pull off the shelf and just stare at, you know, for a while. | ||
| Elizabeth Robinson Member Username: Liz_the_new_listener Post Number: 132 Registered: 10-2006 |
Some favorites on short notice Eels - Blinking Lights and Other Revelations Monkees - Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, Ltd. Radiohead - Hail to the Thief -- word salad in all its glory Favorite Go-Betweens album covers: Oceans Apart Bright Yellow, Bright Orange Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express (but the booklet in Tallulah is worth looking at for hours.) | ||
| Elizabeth Robinson Member Username: Liz_the_new_listener Post Number: 133 Registered: 10-2006 |
One more -- The Cure - Disintegration. | ||
| David Gagen Member Username: David_g Post Number: 170 Registered: 02-2007 |
Strolling Bones - Sticky Fingers (with the zipper!) Bowie - Aladdin Sane Clash - London Calling Talking Heads - Remain in Light Any no of Pink Floyds (Wish You Were Here mayb) Jethro Tull - the one with the phony newspaper stories on it Patti Smith - Horses (Mapplethorpe's photography exquisite and iconic) The Band- 2nd album (who are these guys???) Steve Earles last 4 albums - psycedelic art work eg Revolution Starts Now Nirvana - Nevermind (baby swimming) | ||
| Charles Coy Member Username: Coy Post Number: 70 Registered: 10-2006 |
..16LL, I guess 'cause its shows each member isolated, alone in thoughts...I also like the country feel of Grants' Horsebreaker Star. I love the photographs in New Orders 'Lowlife'. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1161 Registered: 08-2006 |
David, those Steve Earle covers (I think all of them since "I Feel Alright") are done by an artist named Tony Fitzpatrick, whose studio is literally around the corner from my house. He operates out of a storefront on the main drag at the end of my street. You walk by and see him in there working or talking on the phone or hanging with some friends. He does great stuff. | ||
| David Gagen Member Username: David_g Post Number: 171 Registered: 02-2007 |
I wondered who had done them, Rob. They are prob my favorite CD art of all. I wonder if these CDs are available as records (ie vinyl) What other art work does Tony F do Rob? | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1163 Registered: 08-2006 |
Here's his site, David: http://www.tonyfitzpatrick.com/ His other work is very much in the style of the Earle covers, that distinctive mixed media look. | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 838 Registered: 08-2004 |
I've always been a fan of Simple Minds 'New Gold Dream. Also: Bunnymen - Heaven Up Here - Despite the titfer's! Stone Roses - S/T - Bit of a concept mess really, but with all the subsequent singles including exploitation releases, quite a beautful artisitic statement. Inspiral Carpets - Life - A luvverly embossed design. Ride - Nowhere - Embossed again, easier to feel than read, but quite stunningly evocative of the tunes within. | ||
| David Gagen Member Username: David_g Post Number: 172 Registered: 02-2007 |
Just checked site out Rob. Wow! Very distinctive pieces. Thanks heaps. |